HEADLINES: November 8, 2016LOS CABOS TUNA JACKPOT BREAKS RECORDSTeam America on the Tu Corazon out of the East Cape captures the title and the hearts of the awards crowd with the story behind the 298-pound tuna

CABO SAN LUCAS – The largest tuna tournament in the world – the 18th Annual Western Outdoor News Yamaha Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot – wrapped up with an awards ceremony filled with emotion and jubilation last Saturday night. Why not celebrate the biggest tourney in Cabo each year? Or that records were broken in payouts, and that eight fish over 200 pounds came to the scale, one of them the winning 298 pounder the first day from Gordo Bank? Or that a record amount of money was raised for cleft pallet surgeries on Baja children?The swards dinner was held for the first time on the massive Cruise Ship Pier in the Cabo San Lucas IGY Marina where more than 750 anglers, friends, family and dignitaries gathered to celebrate what Tournament Director Pat McDonell described as “an exceptional experience with the final two days of weigh-ins being epic! With 168 teams, 25 more than last year, the event broke its own attendance record and offered the highest payout ever, $747,500.” First place and the championship went to Team America consisting of David Macklis, Angelica Cota and Juan Collins, all from Los Barriles, Baja California Sur; and Chucky Van Wormer, son of the late Bob Van Wormer, Baja pioneer and founder of Van Wormer Resorts in Los Barriles. Fishing aboard the Tu Corazon, captained by Alejandro Cota also of Los Barriles, Van Wormer landed a 298-pound yellowfin tuna, the second largest in the event’s history, earning the team $179,975 for First Place Overall, Day 1, $500, $1,000 and $2,000.Accepting the award and the five commemorative hand-carved hook trophies and custom Jon Pettey tuna rings, Van Wormer explained that the team name "Team America" was chosen to honor the life of the 11-year-old niece of the captain who lost her battle to cancer at 5:20 a.m. Nov. 3, just before they began the first day of fishing. Van Wormer, filled with emotion, explained, “We were so sad for the loss of America’s life, but we felt she went straight to heaven and was watching over us.”Turning to the Second Place winners and the largest payout in the event’s history, "Reel Quest", he added, "Congratulations. You may have had the best equipment and good luck; however this time we had a little angel watching over us." Previous winners aboard the Reel Quest with Captain Tyson Valli were Brad Stevenson, Northbrook, Ill.; Dick Landfield, Yorba Linda, Calif.; Henry Arras, Temecula, Calif.; and Bill Savage, Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico. They received the largest payout in the history of the event: $331,950 for Second Place Overall, Day 1 (161-pound tuna), $10,000, Day 2, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $5,000 and $10,000.Landfield acknowledged, "In all my years of fishing, I have never, never had the team that we have now. I couldn't be happier as the owner with our team!"There were six teams that divided the $747,500 in total payouts. The other four teams were:• Team Jones Fish 1 (Team 62), Vaquera, Robert and Christina Jones, Cincinnati, Ohio; Billy Senters, New Richmond, Ohio; and Zack Nell, Third Place Overall $4,175.• Lux Team (Team 111), Picante Pride, Diego Ferrer, Luxembourg, Germany; 53.2-pound wahoo, Day 1, $60,400.• Team Dr. Pescado (Team 133), Dr. Pescado II, Jaime Rendon, Jorge Escamilla, Juan Bosco and Felipe Xhembe, Cabo San Lucas, BCS; 52-pound wahoo, Day 2, $60,400.• Team Reel Gold (Team 140), Reel Gold, Murray Wright, Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Dave Patterson, Jon Crawford, Vancouver, BC, Paul Bonovich; 230-pound tuna, Day 1 $3,000 and $5,000, $110,000.There were nine events tied to the tournament, many of them tied to charity efforts. In all, $40,000 raised for this year’s charity, "Smiles InternationalFoundation.org," will be matched by the pharmaceutical industry. Each $1,000 raised will ensure four surgeries for children. The money was raised via t-shirt sales by Minerva’s Tackle at check-in, donations, sales of tickets for the Grand Prize Raffle ($5 each), A live auction of a trip to Florida organized by Dave Bultheis and the other attending sponsors, a silent auction, and a charter trip on the Cabo Escape for the second day’s shotgun start. The big donation was a $27,000 bid on the Florida trip won by longtime Tuna Jackpot participants Melinda and Stew Webber. It was later revealed that Stew, a chef, said later the Foundation’s work struck a chord with him as he was born with a cleft pallet and other facial deformaties and was abandoned by his family, but after corrective surgery he was adopted. Attending the event was Dr. Jeffrey Moses and his wife the Foundation coordinator Maribel Moses.

JC,s LEGEND and LIES will continue next week!!!

Jc Sportfishing Charters is a family owned and operated business and has been fishing in Cabo San Lucas for the past 18 years. Jerry, explains that his charter business is geared more for families and novice anglers, making sure everyone who charters a boat with him have a great time and lots of fun. We welcome families, and groups. We want everyone who fishes with us to take all the sites in and have a memorable experience. This is what is most important to us. We have and do a few tournaments each year and can cater to fisherman who might be interested in tournament fishing. Well lets get on with the fishing report for this past week.

WEATHER: You cant beat this time of year for Cabo weather it is one of the best times of year for coming to Mexico and specifically Cabo San lucas. We have been having day time highs in the low to mid 80,s and the lows at night in the low to mid 60,s. Its really nice and we could even stand for it to get a Little cooler son.

WATER: Still warm wáter lingering in our area and I noticed on the tembreak map it looks like there is pockets of the warm stuff still up there in some areas on the pacific side. Up as far north as the Finger Bank and south to Golden Gate and San Jamie banks.. This link which will show you water temperatures for the southern half of Baja. http://www.tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

BILLFISH: The Marlin fishing in general has been way down lately. We think it is because La Nina and warm water temperatures in the area when the water should be much cooler than it is now. We have haven’t been having much of a bite compared to what it was a couple weeks ago.

DORADO: The Dorado action isn’t happening right now, it seems it has slowed big time over last week or so. There wasn’t very many caught this past week.

SWORDFISH: Hasn't heard of any caught this week.

WAHOO: There was only 4 wahoo caught during the tournament out of the 166 boats!

TUNA: The COMMERCIAL Tuna seiners are gone now as it seems they left right after the tournament. Weird? But anyway the bite has been just OK, with nothing special. There is still some schools scattered around with mostly football size fish being landed, but the Tuna seiners have disappeared thank god!!

INSHORE: Low numbers of Roosters over the past week and the inshore action hasn’t been anything special. The pangas have been doing really well inshore for Dorado and even the Wahoo fishing has been just ok tight to the beach. The productive areas are from the Solmar all the way to the Pump House.

JC,s Baja Tequila Lime Spritzer!!Ingredients:– 1.5 ounces Tres Agaves Blanco Tequila– Lime soda– Sparkling water– Cucumber slices and rosemary to garnishDirections: Use sanding sugar to rim your glass. Pour tequila over ice. Top with lime soda and sparkling water (more soda for a sweeter drink, more sparkling water for less sweetness). Garnish with cucumber slices and rosemary sprigs.BEWARE: Please beware of the guys in the street selling boat charters. If you wait till the day you are fishing and go to the dock where your boat is many times people will mislead you to another boat or dock trying to put you on a boat that was not meant for you. You need to have a person guide you to your boat, who is from a reputable charter company. This way there is no confusion or misleading. Please remember when renting Sport fishing boats in Cabo that you rent your boat from reputable and established business. Walk into a fishing fleet office and ask questions about what you are getting and what are the costs? You don't want to rent boats from vendors in the streets and you do not want to book through shady websites offering you the world. Check through travel forums about reputable fishing fleets to deal with. Look for testimonials about the fleet your booking, your charter with. Ask about what will the boat be supplying? Will it include beverages or lunches? How much does it cost to fillet your catch? Check to see if charter boat is insured? Ask about getting your catch smoked? Check cost of a fishing license. These are just a few things to consider when booking your charter boat. We will be talking more about this in the next weeks fishing report. Until next time good fishing and we hope to see you in Cabo soon. Come by the office here in Cabo and get all the latest up to date fishing report. http://www.jcsportfishing.comhttp://youtu.be/tSXN6pifQyQ